UCLA Bruins gymnastics

UCLA Bruins women's gymnastics
Founded	1974
University	University of California, Los Angeles
Conference	Pac-12
Location	Los Angeles, California
Head coach	Valorie Kondos Field (27th year)
Home arena	Pauley Pavilion (Capacity: 13,800)
Nickname	Bruins
Colors	True Blue and Gold[1]
National Championships
6 (1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2010) NCAA Championships
NCAA Regional Champions
21 (1982, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015) Regional Champions
Conference Champions
18 (2016, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2007, 2005, 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999, 1997, 1996, 1993, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1981[WCAA]) Pac-12 Championships

The UCLA Bruins women's gymnastics team represents the University of California at Los Angeles and competes in the Pac-12 Conference. They currently compete in Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA. The team, coached by Valorie Kondos Field, has won 21 Regional titles and 6 NCAA National Championships, most recently in 2010.^[2]

The Bruins are known for recruiting top elite gymnasts from both the US and Canada.^[3] Some notable former UCLA gymnasts include Dr. Onnie Willis Rogers and current stuntwoman Heidi Moneymaker and Olympic gymnasts Jamie Dantzscher, Mohini Bhardwaj, Kate Richardson, Tasha Schwikert, Kristen Maloney, Yvonne Tousek, Stella Umeh, Luisa Portocarrero, Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs, Sam Peszek, Peng Peng Lee, Jennifer Pinches, Jordyn Wieber, Kyla Ross and Madison Kocian.

UCLA also fielded a men's gymnastics team until 1994, when it was discontinued due to budget cuts.

Highlights

• 2008 Canadian Olympic Gymnastics team member Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs attended UCLA, a member of the team in 2008–2009 season.
• The Bruins won the 2009 Pac-10 title, their 14th, and was 7th seeded in the NCAA National Championships. They competed at the NCAA North Central Regionals at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday, Apr. 4 with Florida (#6), Minnesota (#18), Denver (#20), Iowa State (#23) and Iowa (#28). The Bruins came in second behind Florida.^[4]
• 2009 – In the second session of the national championships, the Bruins finished tie for third place with Utah. But Utah won the tie breakers by counting all the scores of the six competitors in each event and advanced to the Super Six team finals.^[5]
• 2010 – The team won its 15th Pacific-10 Championship, with Anna Li scoring a perfect 10 on uneven bars. Vanessa Zamarripa won all-around and vault, and was named 2010 Pac-10 Gymnast Of The Year.
• 2010 – UCLA Gymnastics won the Los Angeles Regional and qualified for the NCAA Championships in Gainesville, Florida.^[6] Anna Li again scored a perfect 10 on the uneven bars at Pauley Pavilion, where both of her parents, Li Yuejiu and Wu Jiani won medals at the 1984 Olympic Games.
• 2010 – USA Olympic team silver medalist Sam Peszek is attending UCLA, and is a new member of the 2011 UCLA gymnastics team.
• 2010– The team won its sixth ncaa title at the O'Connell Center in Gainesville, FL.
• 2011 – UCLA finished second in the national competition; Athens Regional champions; Sam Peszek was first in balance beam with a 9.90 score.
• 2012 – Third place finish in team competition; Olivia Courtney was third in uneven bars, and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs was second in floor exercise.
• 2013 – UCLA was 4th in the team competition held at its own Pauley Pavilion; Four Bruins finished as top-eight performers in individual competition, three (Olivia Courtney, Kaelie Baer, and Vanessa Zamarripa) on vault and one (Danusia Francis) on beam.
• 2014 – UCLA did not qualify to Saturday night's Super Six competition in Birmingham, AL. Two Bruins competed on Sunday in event finals, Sam Peszek and Olivia Courtney.
• 2015 – UCLA captured the team's 21st Regional Championship with a score of 197.500 points at the NCAA Columbus Regional. Samantha Peszek was the All Around Co-Champion with 39.6 points; Samantha Peszek also won the balance beam with a 9.950 score.
• 2016 – UCLA finished second at the Salt Lake City Regional, held at the University of Utah's Jon M. Huntsman Center with a score of 196.375. The Bruins advanced to the NCAA Gymnastics Championships for the 32nd time, assigned to the Semifinal II. Seniors Danusia Francis and Sadiqua Bynum and junior Angi Cipra were awarded regular season All-America honors by the National Association of College Gymnastics Coaches (NACGC/W).

Head coaches

Name	Years	Record	Win %
Lee Ann Lobdill	1977–1979	34–30–0	.531
Jerry Tomlinson	1980–1990	191–63–1	.750
Scott Bull	1991–1994	77–16–0	.828
Valorie Kondos Field	1991–present	451–107–2	.801

record includes invitationals and conference championships as of 2014.

Current roster (2016)

2015–16 Roster^[7]

Name	Height	Year	Hometown	Club
Matteah Brow	5–5	FR	Manhattan Beach, CA	JAG
Sadiqua Bynum	5–4	R-SR	Berkeley, CA	Head Over Heels Athletic Arts
Angi Cipra	5–2	JR	Mesa, AZ	Desert Devils Gymnastics
Sophina DeJesus	5–1	SR	Temecula, CA	SCEGA
Rechelle Dennis	5–4	SO	Dix Hills, NY	Gold Medal Huntington
Danusia Francis	5–4	SR	Kenilworth, UK	Heathrow Gymnastics Club
Mikaela Gerber	5–5	JR	Cambridge, Ontario	Oakville Gymnastics Club
Napualani Hall	5–4	SO	Kansas City, MO	Fuzion Gymnastics
JaNay Honest	5–2	SO	Visalia, CA	Central California
Christine Peng-Peng Lee	5–2	R-JR	Richmond Hill, Ontario	Sport Seneca/Oakville Gymnastics Club
Sonya Meraz	5–1	SO	Santa Monica, CA	All Olympia
Melissa Metcalf	5–3	SO	Mesa, AZ	Desert Devils
Hallie Mossett	5–2	JR	Los Angeles, CA	West Coast Elite Gymnastics
Katelyn Ohashi	4–10	FR	Plano, TX	WOGA
Madison Preston	5–3	FR	Loveland, OH	Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy
Stella Savvidou	5–2	FR	Melbourne, Australia	Methodist Ladies College Gymnastics Club
Nicki Shapiro	5–1	FR	Los Angeles, CA	All Olympia
Macy Toronjo	4–11	FR	Huntsville, TX	Texas Dreams

• Head Coach: Valorie Kondos Field
• Associate Head Coach: Chris Waller
• Assistant Coach: Randy Lane
• Volunteer Assistant Coach: Dom Palange

Team Manager: Jordyn Wieber

Gymnasts who have committed to attend UCLA in the future:^[8]

• 2016–17
  • Madison Kocian – 2016 Olympics (team gold, uneven bars silver), 2014 World Championships (team gold) and 2015 World Championships (team gold, uneven bar gold)
  • Kyla Ross – 2012 Olympics (team gold), 2013 World Championships (all-arund silver, uneven bars silver, balance beam silver) and 2014 World Championships (team gold, all-around bronze)
  • Felicia Hano – US National Team member, Pan American Championships gold medalist
  • Veronica Hults – 2013 U.S Junior National Team Member, 3rd at 2013 P&G National Championships, junior division
  • Giulianna Pino – Ecuadorian National Team Member
  • Anna and Grace Glenn – Level 10 JO US National Team Members
• 2017–18
  • Nia Dennis – Senior US National Team member
• 2018–19
  • Norah Flatley – Junior US National Team member

NCAA Championships

Banners honoring the NCAA national championships won by UCLA.

With the titles in 2015, UCLA now has 34 NCAA individual titles and six team titles:^[9]

Event	Winner/Year
Team (6)	UCLA 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2010
All Around (5)	Onnie Willis, 2001; Jamie Dantzscher, 2002; Tasha Schwikert, 2005; Tasha Schwikert, 2008; Sam Peszek, 2015
Vault (6)	Jill Andrews, 1988; Kim Hamilton, 1989; Heidi Moneymaker, 1999; Jamie Dantzscher, 2002; Kristen Maloney, 2005; Vanessa Zamarripa, 2010
Uneven Bars (6)	Heidi Moneymaker, 1998; Mohini Bhardwaj, 2000; Yvonne Tousek, 2001; Jamie Dantzscher, 2003; Kate Richardson, 2003; Tasha Schwikert, 2008
Balance Beam (8)	Jill Andrews, 1989; Kiralee Hayashi, 1999; Lena Degteva, 2000; Kate Richardson, 2003; Kristen Maloney, 2005; Sam Peszek, 2011; Sam Peszek, 2015; Danusia Francis, 2016
Floor Exercise (9)	Kim Hamilton, 1987; Kim Hamilton, 1988; Kim Hamilton, 1989; Stella Umeh,1995; Stella Umeh, 1998; Mohini Bhardwaj, 2001; Jamie Dantzscher, 2002; Kate Richardson, 2006; Brittani McCullough, 2010

Awards and honors

Honda Award Winners

• Kristen Maloney, 2005
• Onnie Willis, 2003
• Mohini Bhardwaj, 2001
• Jill Andrews, 1990
• Sharon Shapiro, 1981

AAI Award (National Senior of the Year)

• Vanessa Zamarripa, 2013
• Jamie Dantzscher, 2004
• Mohini Bhardwaj, 2001
• Donna Kemp, 1984

National Coach of the Year

• Valorie Kondos Field, 2001, 2000, 1997, 1996, 1989
• Jerry Tomlinson, 1989

National Asst. Coach of the Year

• Chris Waller, 2004
• Randy Lane, 2000

Men's gymnastics team

The Bruins men's gymnastics team won two NCAA national champions in 1984 and 1987. The program was discontinued during university budget cuts in 1993 despite a record of athletic and academic success.^[10]

Notable alumni of UCLA men's gymnastics include:

• Tim Daggett, 1984 Olympic gold medallist
• Mitch Gaylord, 1984 NCAA all-around champion & Olympic gold medallist
• Scott Keswick, 1992 US Olympian
• Stephen McCain, 2000 US Olympian
• Peter Vidmar, 1982, 1983 NCAA all-around champion & 1984 Olympic gold medallist
• Chris Waller, 1990 NCAA high bar champion and current women's team assistant coach

References

1. "UCLA's Official Colors". Associated Students of UCLA (ASUCLA). 2015-10-16. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
2. "2015 UCLA Gymnastics media guide" (PDF). UCLA Bruins Official Athletic Site. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
3. Peraza, Misael. "UCLA takes to Canadian talent". Daily Bruin. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
4. UCLA Wins Pac-10 Gymnastics Championship
5. 2009 National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships
6. UCLA Gymnastics Wins Los Angeles Regional To Qualify For NCAA Championships, UCLABruins.com, April 10, 2010
7. "Gymnastics – Roster – UCLA Bruins Official Athletic Site". UCLABruins.com. Retrieved 2015-08-09.
8. http://collegegymfans.com/recruits/recruitables-database/search
9. Zamarripa, McCullough Win NCAA Event Titles, UCLABruins.com, April 24, 2010
10. Robbins, Danny. "Three Teams Go in UCLA Cutback". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 September 2015.

External links

• UCLA Gymnastics official website